The Order of the Phoenix: Sarah's point of Veiw
by poptart-chick808
Summary: I've uploaded some new chapters. It's been a while, yeah, but the story is getting more interesting. I almost have it done!
1. Default Chapter

Chapter One  
Sarah Maxwell It was the middle of summer, and New Mexico seemed less humid than usual. The lizards and horned toads could still be seen out in the mesas or scurrying across the backyard. Afternoon was approaching, and a nineteen-year-old boy was seen mounting a broom on the roof of a two storied house. The house sat on a side of the mountain where the Muggle people in the city couldn't see. It was very extensive too; white plastered, and had no fence marking where their backyard ended. The boy took off into the sky to join his cousins, and went off to play a game of Quidditch in the desert mesa.  
A younger girl was sitting on her bed watching her brother fly off into the distance through the balcony window.  
Sarah Maxwell got up, and looked in the full-length mirror to see her twin image looking back at her with gray thoughtful eyes. She brushed her blondish, brown hair into a messy half-bun using a rubber band. Measuring herself in the mirror again, she thought about how normal she looked- fifteen, five foot four, and with an average build.  
"Maybe if I gave myself a second nose..." thought Sarah out loud with a grin.  
"I wouldn't try it," said her reflection back to her. She sighed as she heard a sudden outbreak of laughing from downstairs from her relatives.  
Sarah was the fifth youngest relative of a very large wizard family, consisting of nine uncles, and aunts on both sides of her parents, and more cousins than she could count. Sarah, herself, only had one older brother, Joe. The only grandparents she ever saw were on her dad's side; her mother claimed that her parents were mentally ill.  
She opened the door to a loud clamor of voices and her cousins running up and down the staircase and through the hallways, either using their wands to jinx each other for laughs or playing some game of hide-and-go-seek. Already she almost tripped over three of her youngest cousins trying to reach the staircase.   
The fourth youngest cousin, Alex, who was only a year younger than she, also went to the same school as she did, lived in the same city she did, and seemed to be the most likable guy in the city, was like Sarah's other brother that was a total opposite of her real one. He always was willing to help Sarah and Kelly Anne with their homework when they needed it, and was there to help out with work in town, especially at the stables for the winged horses.  
"Oh- hi, Alex," she said when she looked up.  
"Hello, Sarah," he said, "your mom told me you were in your room."  
"Uh- yeah. Just doing some reading," she said. "I promised my friends I would come over, but if you want to do something later, that's cool with me."  
"Oh," said Alex, looking a little disappointed. "No, that's alright. I guess I'll see you later then."  
"Yeah, later," she said, and walked away with a smile and a wave. Until just now, he had seemed strangely distant from her since relatives started showing up. She thought about why that must be as she approached a crowd of her uncles circled around with drinks in their hands, and in a hearty conversation. Some of them came from Ireland or Great Britain, and had accents just like her dad's, who was born in London himself. She stopped while trying to find another way around the group, but everyone was blocking her way to the front door. As her uncles continued their conversation, she was distracted from her thoughts when somehting caught her ear.  
"How'd she transferred to a place like that anyways?"  
"Michelle, of course! Her mom, after hearing about that little end-of-the-year-prank, wrote straight to Dumbledore to transfer her there, you know, to maybe straighten her out-"  
Sarah averted her eyes and walked towards the circle of uncles, her face set and determined. She tried to pass without them noticing, but one uncle spotted her and said aloud while placing a hand on her shoulder before she took another step. "Well, speaking of the devil, here's the little honor student now!" They chuckled, and Sarah reluctantly turned around.  
"Hello, Uncle Dave," said Sarah.  
"So, I hear you've been transferred to Hogwarts. Congratulations!" he said. "All the way out in Britain, right?"  
"Yes," answered Sarah.  
"You going to try out for any Quidditch teams there? I've seen what a great Chaser you are," said her Uncle Steve.  
"I dunno- I guess so..." answered Sarah, inching towards the front door with Uncle Dave's hand still tight on her shoulder, and many more questions followed, without giving Sarah a chance to answer.  
"Have you decided what courses you're going to pick?"  
"Considered what house you'd want to be in?"  
"What thing's to take with you?"  
"What you'll get in Hogsmead when you go?"  
"Which boy's dormitory to tee-pee this time?" There was more chuckling, and Sarah smiled feebly.  
"Well, good luck, young lady. Do good now, you hear?" said Uncle Dave, and released her.  
Sarah nodded turned halfway on her heal. "Well, see ya later," she said, and opened the front door and walked out. She let out an even deeper breath of relief and gave a sudden shiver even though it was pretty warm outside.  
"Family reunions," she muttered, and walked towards the garage. She took out her wand and tapped the second smaller garage door, and it opened. There it was, on a shelf above a small workbench. Protecting it from dust, and being scratched in its leather case was her most favorite possession: her broom, the Infinity.  
Unzipping the case, she looked at it, smiled fondly at it, and then picked it up. She carried it outside, tapped the garage door again, and then mounted the broom, kicked off from the ground and soared into the sky. She had only one intention for being on her broom right now; the lie she told Alex about her friends expecting her, gave her an idea, and now she was going to go and see what they were up to.  
Kelly Anne and Mike's houses were only a few blocks away, which only took a minute to reach on a broom. She landed on the sidewalk before a two storied brick house and ran up the paved steps to ring the doorbell. Kelly Anne's mom answered.  
"Hello, Sarah," she said in her kindly voice.  
"Hi, Mrs. Johnson," said Sarah, "is Kelly Anne home?" but before Mrs. Johnson could answer, Kelly Anne had come bounding down the steps to the door.  
"Sarah!" said Kelly Anne enthusiastically, and bumped her mom as she stepped out the door to give Sarah a ridiculous hug. "I haven't seen you in so long! It seems like it was only yesterday we were racing Mike on our brooms.." she trailed off in false sobs.  
"It was yesterday, you freak," laughed Sarah, as Kelly Anne released her.  
"Let me go and get my broom- that's all right with you, mom, isn't it?" said Kelly Anne as she glanced at her.  
"Oh, I suppose," her mom sighed.  
"Thanks," she said over her shoulder as she went upstairs quickly. A moment later she returned with her own broom, and ran right out the door, closing it with an unexpected slam. Kelly Anne, broom slung over her shoulder, looked at Sarah with a curious glance.  
"What now, oh great one?"  
"To Mike's house," said Sarah, posing as if she were a king, and pointing down the street where Mike's house was. They marched off down the sidewalk glancing around at the houses on either side of the street. Many of the one and two storied houses were either brick, adobe, or white plastered, the lawn's were all nice and cut, gardens were blossoming beautiful flowers and strange cacti, and gnomes were frequently seen running from lawn to lawn, bush to bush.  
Mike's house was also a brick house, only it was one storied; he had no brothers or sisters like Sarah and Kelly Anne. He answered the door in his baggy casual clothes, like a Muggle skater kid, only with robes. "What's up?"  
"The sky," answered Kelly Anne with a grin.  
"And your cholesterol level," said Sarah with an identical grin. Mike frowned.  
"What'd you want?" he asked.  
"Pizza, some coke, fried chicken- what'd you think, you lazy bum? Get your broom, and come on!" said Sarah. Mike frowned again, turned leaving the door open, and returned just like Kelly Anne a moment later with his broom slung over his shoulder, shutting the door behind him.  
"How's the family reunion going?" Mike asked.  
"I can't walk two inches in my house without running into one of my cousins, and I have to get past at least a thousand questions from my aunts and uncles before I reach the front door," said Sarah. "I even stubbed my toe trying to avoid my cousin's pet frog. And my other cousin, Alex-"  
"He's always helping us with our homework, right? That cousin? I keep on mistaking him for your brother," said Kelly Anne, scratching her head. "He's always helping us pass our Defense Against the Dark Arts classes?"  
Sarah nodded. "He was waiting for me before I reached downstairs," she said. "He's been pretty distant from me until then."  
"Sounds fun," muttered Mike. They mounted and took off. "What about your dad? Did he come back from Mexico or wherever the heck he is, yet?"  
"Argentina, smart one. He won't be back for a while. He just visited a few days ago when the reunion began, but he had to go back the next day," said Sarah.  
"What'd you wanna do?"  
"Let's go and check out that cave we found on the mountain yesterday," suggested Kelly Anne.  
"I guess we could do that- we've got nothing else to do. My brother and my cousins already have the mesa," said Sarah. Mike shrugged, as they mounted their brooms and took off into the sky, heading towards the mountains, the wind whipping in their faces.  
"You know, Sarah," said Mike with a sudden grin. Sarah turned her head to look at him. "You owe me a couple of Galleons."  
"FOR WHAT?" cried Sarah incredulously.  
"That broom race I beat you in," said Mike, winking at Kelly Anne whose face brightened suddenly.  
"That's right, you owe me a couple or two, too," said Kelly Anne. Sarah stared at her.  
"Something's not right. There's no way in heck that you guys could beat me!" said Sarah. Kelly and Mike both grinned.  
"You mean, not even now? With-" said Kelly Anne starting to speed ahead, "a head start!" and with that she and Mike took off flying ahead of her with great speed. Sarah stared a moment, and then sped towards them, trying to gain on them. "That was so uncool," said Sarah with a frown as she finally reached them on the other side of the mountain.  
"Yeah it was," said Kelly Anne laughing.  
"Hey! Is this it?" asked Mike, as they flew closer to a fissure on a hillside. It wasn't exactly on the mountain, but on the hills that rolled next to it.  
"Well, gee, I don't know, Mike. How many caves in the mountain have we found so far that look a lot like this one?" said Sarah with a note of sarcasm. She rolled her eyes and looked sideways at Kelly Anne.  
"Do you think bears might, you know-"  
"What? Be in there? I don't think they couldn't fit into that," said Sarah as they landed on huge rock bulging out of the side. They were on one of the particularly largest hill that sat right next to the side of the mountain, with huge jagged rocks that had fallen on it. Kelly Anne and Mike landed cautiously next to her, and stumbled up into the crevice. As they walked inside, they felt the cool of the cavern settle on them. It was dim, and the only light was from the entrance they had just walked through.  
"Lumos," said Sarah, taking out her wand and lighting it. Kelly Anne and Mike looked at her uncertainly. "I'm not officially a Hogwarts student yet you know. I can still do magic."  
"I guess, lumos," said Kelly Anne, her voice echoing against the wall. Mike did the same.  
"Plus, if they did send you some kind of warning, you could always use another one of your excuses," said Mike. "I bet you could make a book by now..."  
The crevice turned out to be a lot bigger than they thought it would be. Further away in, they could see stalagmites and stalactites hanging from the ceiling and protruding from the ground. Faint dripping sounds echoed eerily through the cavern.   
"So these hills are limestone. I would never've guessed," said Sarah.  
"I hope there aren't any bats," said Kelly Anne, giving a sudden shiver. "I hate bats, and bears. Not to mention bats."  
"And I hate snakes," said Sarah with a grimace.  
"I don't like Jackalope too much.." said Mike, making Kelly Anne and Sarah laugh. "Well, you'd be pretty scared too if a rabbit with antlers came across you're path during that nature hike at night..." after a while, Mike laughed at himself too.  
Deeper into the cavern they walked, avoiding deep cracks, and stalagmites. It seemed that this cavern had been used before at one time, as Sarah, Kelly Anne and Mike discovered a path that had started up a slope on the wall of the cavern where a fissure once was, but now was caved in with huge rocks.  
"Kind of reminds you of Carlsbad Caverns, doesn't it?" said Mike. Almost suddenly, their path ended, leading up to a wall that had a rope ladder hanging from it, and leading up to a hole at the very top. Sarah walked up to it, and tested it.  
"I think it's pretty safe. Do you guys wanna keep on going?" she asked.  
"Why not?" said Kelly Anne, and they climbed up it, noticing many old Indian paintings as they ascended and reached the top. Their wand lights revealed a very large room with what looked like old rusty cauldrons, and instruments that were used for Dark Arts all covered in cobwebs. But some, Sarah had noticed as she, Mike and Kelly looked around, weren't even dirty, and looked as though someone had just recently picked them up to have a look at.  
Kelly Anne gave a sudden gasp of terror, and Sarah turned, seeing her gaze up at something on the wall. Above her in green paint was a skull with a snake protruding from the mouth.  



	2. Chapter Two; The Hideout

Chapter Two  
The Hideout "The Dark Mark," Mike muttered, as he came over to Kelly Anne.  
"Hey, what if this was their hideout?" said Sarah. "It looks like He had supporters even here."  
"You-know-who?" said Kelly Anne.  
"His closest ones were in Britain. The ones who escaped the Ministry here were said to have fled back there," said Mike knowledgeably. "We should get out of here. It gives me the creeps."  
"Do you think we should tell anyone?" said Kelly Anne.  
"No, we'd be in so much trouble. We're breaking the law right now already, being on this side of the mountain. Besides, it's not that big of a deal. After all, it's not like they're coming back anyway," said Sarah. "Let's just go and forget about it all-" but she stopped, hearing dull clunk echo loudly outside the hole where they entered.  
"What was that?" she whispered.  
"Almost go' it," they could hear a voice say gruffly as if through a wall. "Just hope nobady's in there that we haff to kill..."All three stood motionless and silent, color draining from their faces. Fear burned in Sarah's stomach as she heard another dull clunk. "Let's get outta here, quick!" she whispered quickly to them, and they nodded. Quickly they climbed down the rope ladder, and back down the path from which they had came. They heard a third dull clunk echo threateningly at them, and they quickened their pace. The fourth clunk was the last, followed by the sound of huge rocks falling and hitting the ground on the path behind them. It was the fissure that had been caved in with rocks, they had seen earlier.  
"Ah! Found it, Diego!" they heard the gruff voice say outside.   
"Great, work, Duran. He will be pleased."  
Sarah looked over at Kelly Anne and Mike, who looked too terrified to talk. "Let's go!" she whispered, and they came back to their senses. They ran as fast as they could, hearing the people climbing in over the rocks, and then "Hurry up, Duran, I haven't got all day you know!"   
They ran faster than ever, trying not to trip on any rocks or anything to catch the stranger's attention. Finally they reached the entrance where they had entered, and launched towards their brooms, which they had left there basking in the sun. They mounted and looked back.  
"Hey! Who are those kids?" a voice echoed towards them.  
"Who knows," said another voice. "Kill 'em anyways."  
Sarah glanced and saw the outline of a huge man way inside the cavern, jumping in, and then looking sideways at them.  
"My ring! I dropped my ring somewhere!" said Kelly Anne suddenly, rubbing her finger nervously. She was about to turn back, but Sarah turned her about.  
"What are you crazy, Kelly? GO!" cried Sarah, as she took off into the sky, flying as fast as she could with Kelly Anne and Mike behind her. They didn't stop flying until they reached the safety of the other side of the mountain. They stopped and landed somewhere in a small mesa, and all three exchanged glances with each other, not knowing what to say. They had just found a death eaters hideout, or it must have been, and had not known that death eaters had even come to their city of Hillcrest.  
It was Mike who had broken their silence. "Should we tell anyone?"  
"I don't know," said Sarah. "We shouldn't have even gone in there."  
"But what about what we found? They won't care if we should have or shouldn't have been in there," said Mike. "Someone should know about it, Sarah."  
"First of all, we shouldn't have found that, period," said Sarah, glancing at the mountains. "Second, since we did find it, we put ourselves in danger when we explored it. Third, we broke the frickin' law there! Muggles could've seen us! We could've been in danger in the mountains and nobody there to help us. Those men that broke through could've caught us. We could've stumbled upon some dark magic and awakened it. That's what the grown-ups will be yelling at us, Mike. We'll all get into some pretty deep trouble, and gee, Mike, I'd love to tell them the truth and get into trouble like you do, but it's not going to look good when I go to Hogwarts in September."  
Mike went silent. Taking away the rest of his summer was the last thing he wanted.  
"What do we do then? I can't just leave my ring back there," said Kelly Anne abruptly.  
"You're still going on about that stupid ring?" cried out Mike.  
"My dad gave that to me. Said it cost a pretty Galleon for it, and if I ever lost it he'd probably disown me! And what's more, he'll wonder where I lost it," Kelly Anne yelled back at him. It was the first time Sarah had ever seen Kelly Anne snap at Mike like that, and she stood staring at her friend in wonder. Shaking her head, she looked back at the mountains and then at each of them.  
"We'll go back tomorrow, when those other guys are gone, and get it back, and then no one will ever know what we saw or what we did. Alright?" Kelly Anne and Mike went home before the end of the day. Sarah's family and relatives were going to have a big barbecue that night for dinner, and they were planning to have it at the nearby park. All twenty-three cousins there, and none of them was a girl or a boy her age that she could actually have a decent conversation with; Alex wasn't exactly talkative at the moment. Actually, all he ever did was stare, which caused Sarah to be a little anxious.  
So she sat drinking coke on a park bench next to a group of her much older cousins who were at least eighteen or twenty, talking about how their lives are so far since they've graduated from school.  
"How about you, Sarah?" asked one of her cousins, Jake.  
"What about me? I haven't graduated," said Sarah.  
"We know, but you're going to Hogwarts aren't you?" said another cousin, Tonya. Sarah nodded.  
"What are you going to do as soon as you graduate?"  
Sarah looked thoughtful a moment, and then replied. "I dunno, I haven't really thought about that," she told them.  
"Well, you'd better decide soon, huh? You've only got- what, three more years left of school?" said Jake.  
"Anyone for a game of Quidditch?" called out one of her oldest cousins walking up with Sarah's brother at his side. Everyone but Sarah, of course, all nodded and shouted with approval. "Joe and I will be team captains. You can choose first, Joe."  
"I pick Sarah of course. You know what position to play," said Joe giving Sarah a grin. She was about to tell him that she didn't really feel like playing, but then she saw Alex glaring at her across the park. She nodded, and picked up her broom. The next day, Sarah, Kelly Anne and Mike set out in the afternoon to the other side of the mountain to retrieve Kelly Anne's ring. Cautiously they looked in to make sure that no one was there and started to retrace their steps through the caverns.  
"We should stay close to each other, just in case," Sarah warned, taking out her wand and lighting it. She saw Mike shiver and look around anxiously.  
"I just want to get out of here as soon as possible," said Mike. "I've got a bad feeling about this place."  
"We went this way," Kelly Anne pointed into the darkness of the cave. Sarah wasn't sure they were even in the right cave at first. It seemed to look a lot gloomier than it had yesterday. A chill ran through it that hadn't been there before. She looked up and along the walls of the cavern, seeing the familiar Indian paintings.  
They walked until they had reached the abrupt wall that loomed before them, the rope ladder dangling against it, leading up to the abandoned Death Eaters hideout.  
Sarah stopped, and listened, searching for any indication of movement from above. Finally she declared quietly that she didn't think anyone was up there, and started to climb up the ladder. Kelly Anne and Mike followed after her when she told them it was safe, and appeared behind her in the den. Lighting up their wands too, they started searching around for the missing ring.  
Curiosity got the better of Sarah, as she found a wooden crate plied open. She looked inside and found only battered old books that had lain in the wooden crate for years, covered with a layer of dust and cobwebs. And something else that was oddly familiar lying next to the crate; a two headed Muggle coin with a hole right in the middle. Pocketing the coin, she reached into the crate, brushed the cobwebs aside, and pulled out one of the books.  
"I think I've found it! Is this it Kelly Anne?" Mike's voice suddenly echoed from the other side of the den. Sarah absentmindedly stuffed the book into the pocket of her robes, and crossed to the other side of the room to have a better look at the ring that Mike held in his palm. A relieved Kelly Anne nodded, and eagerly shoved the ring back onto her finger.  
"Alright, let's get outta here," said Sarah.  
Quickly and quietly as possible they descended back down the ladder, and ran back towards the entry of the cavern, wanting to get away as far as possible from the eerie, dismal caverns. When they reached the welcoming light of the outside, and mounted their brooms and took off, without a single stranger in sight.  
"Hey Sarah, what do you got in your pocket?" Mike asked as he saw the lump weighing down in the pocket of her robes. For a moment, Sarah stared at him confused and reached into her pocket. She felt the worn leather of the battered old book she had picked up from the crate in the den, and pulled it out showing it to Mike.  
"A book I found," she said, shrugging. "I guess I accidentally put it in my pocket. Oh well."  
She stuffed the batted, old book back into her pocket, and forgot about it once again, as they approached her house. Waving good-bye to Kelly Anne and Mike as they flew away towards their own homes, she walked through the front doors, and into the festivities of the family reunion that was still going on.  
Alex sat staring at her at the bottom of the steps, and Sarah then remembered what else was in her pocket: the two headed Muggle coin with a hole right in the middle. There was only one person she knew who had such a coin...  
"You lost this," she said, and flipped the coin at him. He caught it with his right hand automatically, and stared at her as she continued to walk past him. She wondered if he knew where she had found it, and dismissed the thought immediately. A week later Sarah was laying on her bed, remembering the first day when she went to wizarding school, as she listened to the soft purring coming from her kitten, Din. She smiled, remembering how nervous she was about fitting in. Lucky for her, Kelly Anne and Mike were enrolled in that school too. She remembered how excited she was to finally have a wand; redwood, ten and a half inches long, with dragon heartstring.  
She was going to be a fifth year this year, but not at the Academy anymore. A letter was sent to her all the way from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry that wanted her to attend there this year. She'd have to leave her friends and school in America to go there. Even though this was practically the best school in the world to go to, this was something that she didn't look forward to too much.  
Getting up, she looked around her room, some of the unmoving movie posters still hanging from her walls (she lived near a Muggle city, and got used to doing Muggle things like watching movies and TV and going to the mall, etc.), except for one, given to her by Kelly Anne, of the famous witch band, the Wicked Witch Lady's. By her bed side, there were a couple of doodles she had drawn of her friends, Kelly Anne having a really perky smile and wearing extremely stylish robes while posing like a model, and another of Mike, with a huge toothy grin, and flexing muscles that weren't there. Taped next to the drawings was a photo of Kelly Anne, Mike and Sarah all together, Mike in the middle, being the boy. They all had their arms on each other's shoulders, laughing and smiling, their school in the background.  
Sarah yanked the picture off the wall and stared at the smiling, happy, Sarah in the picture. Her hair was dirty blondish brown, and went down to her shoulders. Her cheerful gray eye's stared back at her. That Sarah in the picture had no idea that that was going to be the last year she would ever spend at the Academy.  
Looking around her room some more, she saw a bookcase showing dozens of fantasy novels, and little spell books she collected over the years. All her favorite little nick knacks and candles were placed along the shelves above her desk and bookcase. A trunk packed with clothes and her school supplies, not to mention her broom, the Infinity, lying inside it's leather broom case, was sitting near the door, ready to be taken downstairs for tomorrow.  
Kelly Anne and Mike were waiting for her outside when she came out to get away from her house.  
"It'll be alright, Sarah," said Kelly Anne, smiling, "you like trying new things, remember?"  
Sarah didn't look remotely cheered up by this. "At least you're not going to the Salem Witches' Institute," said Mike, and that did cheer her up.  
"We can just send owls to each other every day," said Kelly Anne.  
"Yeah, and tell me what Quidditch is like down there," said Mike excitedly. "I wonder if it's any different from America." Typical, thought Sarah, trying to look as though she hadn't noticed what Mike said.  
"I'll buy you guys something at Hogsmead when we go, and send you my doodles and drawings and letters about what's happened every day," promised Sarah. "But it won't be to interesting reading about me falling asleep in class everyday."  
"I doubt you'll be that bored in class," said Mike. "There's rumor that Harry Potter's goes to that school. He's supposed to be in the same year we're in."  
"Right," said Sarah, rolling her eyes "and I bet You-Know-Who will be there too."  
"Will you stop joking around about You-Know-Who?" cried Mike. Sarah, and Kelly Anne snickered. Seeing Mike ticked off was there way of getting good humor, because he was almost never mad at anything. "It's not funny. What if he hears you, or something, making fun of him? And that cave we found?"  
"Shhh!" Kelly Anne and Sarah snapped at him.  
"Sorry, its just You-Know-Who's a real physco path-"  
"True. I'd go crazy too if I was called that," muttered Sarah. "How ya' doin' You-Know-Who? Hey You-Know-Who, can you pass the potatoes? You-Know-Who, wanna go to the dance with me?" she imitated out loud, moving her arms energetically.  
"Will you stop it?" said Kelly Anne laughing. "You're making Mike think!"  
It wasn't until the sun went down that Sarah left them, and gloomily walked upstairs to her room. She had to be up tomorrow at three, so that she could get to King's Cross in time. There was a seven-hour difference from London and New Mexico, where she lived, and she needed to be at King's Cross at eleven o'clock for her train to Hogwarts.   



	3. Chapter Three; Destination: Hogwarts

Chapter Three  
Destination, Hogwarts She awoke next morning to the smell of bacon and eggs, and her brother, Joe, standing over her. "You awake?" he said, "we should be going now."  
"What?" said Sarah in a groggy voice. She looked at her clock, and saw that it was three thirty, only thirty minutes for her to get ready. Now she was wide awake. Her brother left her room, laughing to himself as he shut the door, leaving Sarah in a rush to get dressed quickly. It was still dark outside, as Sarah opened the curtains to the balcony door. An owl was waiting there on the railing, and she opened the door to let it in.  
"Just drop it anywhere," she said hastily, starting to throw the few things she had forgotten to stuff in her trunk the day before, and slammed the trunk shut. The owl hooted indignantly, dropped the letter and left out the window.  
Ten minutes later, her trunk and Din were set by the fireplace. Joe was sitting by the kitchen table gulping down the last of the orange juice, with her mom who was reading the daily news paper across from him. Her mom set down the paper when Sarah finally came into the kitchen, wearing her favorite casual blue robes.   
"Ready?" her brother got to his feet. Puffy eyed and still yawning, she nodded, and grabbed the flower pot on top of the refrigerator.  
"Take care of Din, and behave yourself," said her mom, also getting to her feet. "I don't want to hear anything about you tee-peeing the boy's dormitory at night, or-"  
"They frog spawned our showers the night before," Sarah frowned, "we were just getting back at them. How many times do I have to tell you that?"  
"Still," her mom said, "I don't want to hear any bad reports. Understand?" Sarah nodded, and her mom hugged her, with a proud smile on her face. "But if you must do something, next time use shaving cream and honey," she whispered in her ear. Sarah smiled as her mom freed her from her hug. Joe threw some floo powder into the fireplace.  
"Diagon Alley!" he said when he stepped into the flames, and was gone with her trunk. Sarah picked up Din, and threw some floo powder into the fireplace.  
"Dad says he'll be home for the holidays, so I expect you to come for winter break, d'you hear?" her mom told her just before Sarah stepped in.  
"Is he coming back from his trip from work?"  
"Well, he'll have a month left after he visits for winter, so he'll finally be back from Argentina when you return in the summer. I don't know why they asked him to go in the first place. Can't speak a word of Spanish, and can't go around anywhere without his translator."  
Feeling a little more awake, and enlightened, she stepped into the flames.   
"Diagon Alley!" she shouted into the flames. Her eyes shut, and her arms closed tightly around Din, she whirled through many tunnels of fireplaces, the rush of cold wind slapping her face each time she passed one. When she felt herself slowing down, she opened her eyes and readied herself. She came tumbling out into a pub, her brother standing before her, with his hands in his pockets.  
"There's a car waiting outside for us," he helped her to her feet. Din struggled out of her grasp and hopped upon her shoulder. Quickly, already running late, since it was now ten forty where she was, she walked outside and hopped into the back seat of the car waiting for them. Joe came and sat next to her.  
They arrived at King's Cross just in time to walk through the barrier between nine and ten, where the Hogwarts Express was waiting for her. Most of the students were already seated in the compartments, and some were still saying good bye to their parents.  
Joe, being unusually nice today, helped her load her trunk into a compartment in the back. "Thanks, Joe," Sarah said awkwardly, when they were done. She scratched her head as she stared at her brother. "Since when did you become this nice to me?"  
"What? I can't be nice to my little sister for a change?" he put on an innocent face.  
"What now?"  
"What?" said Joe blankly. "Nothing." Sarah stared at him suspiciously. "Can you spare a few Galleons?" he said giving up the act.  
"What for?" cried Sarah.  
"I'm gonna get that Firebolt today, in Diagon Alley," Joe grinned. "I've been saving up for a while to get it, but I'm still a few Galleons short."  
"You bum! Why don't you get a job or something?" yelled Sarah, landing a not-so-hard whack on his forearm. "All you ever do is borrow money from me."  
"I do have a job. I just haven't gotten my pay check yet," Joe said frustrated. "Will you or will you not let me borrow the money?! I only need at least eight or ten-"  
"Eight or ten- Joe!" Sarah stared at him in disbelief. An idea popped into her head and she sighed and smiled up at her brother. "I'll let you borrow money from me on one condition." Joe waited for the horrible price that he would have to pay his younger sister. "That you let me borrow the broom for two months straight when I get back for the summer."  
"Oh no! No-" Joe had an irritated look on his face. "It's an international broom. The World Cup used them. What would happen if you wrecked it? D'you know how valuable those brooms are?"  
Sarah grin grew wider. "Fine," he forced himself to say, and Sarah gave him a few Galleons out of her leather pouch.   
The whistle blew signaling that the train was about to leave. Joe hurried off the train, and gave her a quick hug. She stood at the window, and watched her brother wave good bye to her. She opened the window quickly just as the train began to move and called out to her brother.  
"Remember! You owe me!" she said frowning as her brother smiled back mischievously. The train turned the corner, and her brother was out of sight. Calmly she walked back to her compartment, hands in her pockets, wishing Kelly Anne and Mike were with her. She opened the compartment door and stood staring; now there were three other students, two boys and a girl, sitting there too.  
"Oops," she said in an inaudible voice, realizing that she had disrupted a deep conversation. They all had British accents she noticed, just like her father, but then again, she realized that everyone had British accents. She was about to leave them back to their conversation when the girl stopped her.  
"You're the new student, right?" said the girl, sitting across from the two other boys. She was Sarah's age, and had bushy brown hair, and one of her text books in hand. "This is Harry and Ron, and my name is Hermione."  
"She's a Prefect..." said Ron with grimace. He had extremely red hair that she noticed first hand. She looked back at Hermione, who had pinned on a shiny Prefect badge, and was grinning at the annoyed look on Ron's face.  
"Hi," she said, unsure if she should still be there, "I'm Sarah." Din hopped upon her shoulder out from behind her. "And this is Din. I'm real sorry if I interrupted something-"  
"It's alright," said Hermione, waving away Sarah's apology as a huge ginger cat leapt upon her lap. "This is my cat, Crookshanks."  
"He's beautiful," said Sarah. The ginger cat looked up in recognition, and leapt off, letting Din follow him.  
"At least someone thinks so," said Hermione, looking Ron with a frown. "So, did you come from the Salem Witches' Institute, or another school?" asked Hermione.  
Sarah shivered, and shook her head as if making it clear that she would never have gone there in the first place. The Academy had been rivals with the Salem Witches' Institute for years, and played them at Quidditch and the broom races. Both schools always played against each other in the Quidditch finals, and each year they could never keep the Quidditch Cup a second year in a row. Salem had won last year, and rubbed it in their faces even more by boasting how they had help from watching the World Cup in Europe.  
"I went to the Academy," said Sarah.  
"Which one?" said Hermione.  
Sarah stared blankly at her. She had never known another school called the Academy. "Las Colinas Academy High," she answered. "We just always call it the Academy."  
"How long are you going to stay at Hogwarts?" asked Harry, the boy with untidy black hair, and wearing glasses that were tapped together, his bangs completely hiding his forehead.  
"I don't know," said Sarah thoughtfully, and then took a seat next to Hermione.  
"Do you play Quidditch?" said Ron.  
"Well, I guess you could say that," she said and nodded towards the leather broom case lying on top of her trunk. "That's my broom," she said. "It's an Infinity. One of the newest models in America, but I don't think it can outdo a Firebolt."  
"Harry's got a Firebolt," said Ron. "He's the Seeker on our team."  
"Really?" she said looking at him, eye's lightening up. He nodded. "You know how funny that is? My brother just asked me to borrow some money so he could go and buy one," she said. "How in the world did you manage to get one?"  
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Harry muttered.  
She became more interested, and they compared brooms and talked more about Quidditch. It was true that the Firebolt was a lot better than her broom; Harry had caught the golden snitches in their house games faster than anything Sarah ever heard of. She learned that Harry, Ron and Hermione went to the World Cup last year. Then she found out that there was a spot open on their house team for her if she got into Gryffindor, though it was for Keeper, and that was her worst position.  
Just as Sarah was beginning to tell them about a funny play she had made during a Quidditch match last year, someone opened the compartment door, and walked in, with two other people beside him dwarfing him so that they looked like body guards. Sarah didn't like the look on his face, as he smirked at her.  
"So you're the new girl?" he said, as if it were a waste of time to come in the first place. Sarah didn't say anything, looking at him with a blank expression. "I'm Draco Malfoy, but everyone calls me Malfoy."  
"Hi," she managed to say. She took a quick glance sideways at Harry and Ron, both frowning in dislike at the boy called Malfoy.  
"A Prefect now are you?" said Malfoy, noticing the Prefect badge Hermione wore. "I really don't think they should let Mudbloods be Prefects, do you?" he asked Sarah, who didn't answer. "Well? Aren't you going to tell me your name, or have Potter and Weasley told you all about me already?"  
"She doesn't have to tell you anything, Malfoy," Harry glared at him. Sarah sat back and stared at the anger radiating between the two. It was obvious that there was some kind of grudge between the two that had always been there.  
"Don't you want to tell the new girl about me though? She probably wants to hear all about me," Malfoy said softly, his eye's flickering at Sarah.  
"I've heard enough," said Sarah shortly. "You should probably go if the whole purpose of you coming in here was to tell me about yourself. I've found out more than enough, thanks."  
Malfoy glowered at her. "I don't know anything about you yet though," he said and paused for a second. "So, what about you? Do you live in a box like Weasley? Are you a great big scarheaded show off like Potter? Or are you a Mudblood know-it-all like Granger-"  
"I'd shut it if I were you," warned Sarah, speaking loudly. Her eye's met Malfoy's and then looked over at Harry and Ron who were now both on their feet. They were gripping their wands they had pulled out of their pockets, glaring at Malfoy with a look of pure venom. He saw that Sarah was fidgeting with something in her own pocket too, and gave her a disgusted look.  
"I'd be surprised if you could even had a wand- you don't seem to be anything like a wizard. Look at your clothes. Mudbloods wear better stuff than that."  
"Bring it on," said Sarah inaudibly.  
"I'm sorry. Would you like to repeat that?"  
"Leave her alone, Malfoy. She's done nothing to you," said Harry, advancing on him. Malfoy gave him a sneer.  
"Go on, Potter, show us what you got. I'm sure the new student will be amazed. Show us what a great big, scar headed show off you really are-"  
Before he could finish his last statement he was suddenly drenched from head to foot in water. He sputtered and shook his head. "Laugh while you can," he growled and left with his two body guard friends out of the compartement. Everyone broke into laughter as soon as the door shut behind him.  
"He looked like a drowned river rat!" laughed Sarah. Ron took a bow, for he was the one who caused Malfoy to be soaked.  
"I had to. I just couldn't stand it anymore," Ron told her. "He always comes and starts conversations like that."  
"And does he always end conversations like that too?"  
"Most of the time, yeah," answered Harry with a shrug, taking his seat again.  
Sarah cocked her head thoughtfully, "And my wand was right there in my pocket..." she trailed off quietly with a smile before Hermione broke out into a protest.  
"You could've gotten expelled if you did anything! All of you! Ron, you could get into serious trouble now! And it's only your first day Sarah-"  
"Calm down, Hermione," Sarah was amused. She pulled out what she had been fidgeting with in her pocket. It was furry stuffed toy mouse, the size of her hand, and the letter she was sent this morning. "It's Din's favorite play toy," she explained. The little white kitten sprung out towards her hand, snatched the toy mouse, and landed on all fours, the toy mouse clenched in her mouth. "And a letter that I haven't read yet..." she said offhandedly, stuffing it back into her pocket.  
"But nothing as good as a water spell....What's up with that guy anyway?" asked Sarah.  
"He's just jealous of Harry," Ron said simply.  
"It's always been like this, ever since we were first years," said Harry.  
"I wonder what his family is like then," said Sarah thoughtfully.  
Hermione suddenly changed the subject. "So what kind of things did you do back at the Academy?"  
For a moment, Sarah stared at Hermione, and blinked. "Oh-" she said, remembering the question. "Um, nothing really. Broom races and Quidditch mostly. I did lead the girls into tee- peeing the boys dormitory's last year though, after they frog spawned our showers, and then we kinda ambushed them with water balloons and dung bombs out on the field," she said with a grin. "It was practically war between the fourth year boys and girls after that, and lasted the rest of the year. Even some of the under and higher classmen helped. It was the probably the most thrilling thing that had ever happened at that school, besides the Quidditch matches," said Sarah with a note of sarcasm. "That, and a teacher tried to suspend a kid on the last day of school for setting a toad on fire and making it speed through the hallways."  
"What happened to him?" asked Ron.  
"They thought that it was pretty pointless suspending him, so they sent a note to his parents. Even then they only laughed at him."  
Hermione gave her a disapproving glare, that made Sarah clear her throat and change the subject. "Anyway," she said, "yeah- it's time to eat!" A plumb witch was wheeling a cart full of food into the compartment, which both Sarah and Harry bought from. They shared with Ron and Hermione, and talked more about where Sarah was from. But she was more interested in what Harry, Ron and Hermione had to say about where they lived. She had always wanted to live in Europe.  
By night time, the train had slowed down, and come to a halt. A hundred horseless carriages were waiting for them outside, as she joined Harry, Ron and Hermione in one of them. Din pounced into her arms, unwilling to go into her basket to be taken to the castle separately. "Not a sound, d'you hear?" she told her cat, as Din purred happily on Sarah's shoulder.  
The carriages began their journey to Hogwarts. Sarah was tingling with excitement, impatient to see Hogwarts itself. She'd have to write to Kelly Anne and Mike tomorrow morning and tell them about it.  
A gate flanked with winged statues was passed, and Sarah finally saw the great castle. It was greater than what she had imagined, and even greater because before she was upset about having to leave her friends. Now it seemed, this would be a fine year after all.  



	4. Chapter Four; Meeting with Dumbledore

Chapter Four  
Meeting With Dumbledore She stood before the great oak doors, gazing up at them in wonder. Din was still on her shoulder, like a pirate's parrot that never left it's spot. A teacher with hair pulled tightly back in a bun, and with the most sternest look Sarah had ever seen, opened the doors, and stood before them all, peering into the crowd. "Oh, there you are," she said, spotting Sarah easily in her casual blue robes. She stood out in the sea of black robes and pointy hats. "Why aren't you wearing you're school robes?"  
"I uh- don't them yet," answered Sarah.  
"Well then, come with me," she said. "The rest of you, go on to the Great Hall. The feast is waiting."  
"Good luck, Sarah! Hope you make it into Gryffindor!" said Hermione.  
"Yeah! Good luck!" said Harry and Ron. She waved good-bye to them as they left into the Great Hall, and stared at the teacher who was now directing her towards another direction. They entered the first classroom they came to, where Professor Dumbledore himself was waiting for her. She recognized him easily with his long silvery white beard and his half moon spectacles, a smile on his face as she came and stood before the two of them.  
She had heard rumors of Dumbledore before, especially from her dad when he came home from work at the Ministry. Everything she heard bout him made her stop to wonder sometimes how great a wizard Dumbledore could actually be. But what truly perplexed her most was the rumor she heard that he was the only wizard You-Know-Who was afraid of.  
"Hello, Sarah," he said. "It's nice to finally meet you."  
"It's nice to meet you too, Professor Dumbledore."  
"We're going to decide what house you'll be when you put on the sorting hat," explained the teacher. "We felt it might be awkward for you if you tried it on in front of the school with the first years, so you'll try it on here." The teacher handed her a hat that was old, and patched up, battered up in some places. "Please sit here," the teacher said placing a three legged stool in front of her. She looked down at the hat unsure, picked up Din and set her on a table, and sat on the stool. Then, placing the hat on her head gently, let it droop over her eye's, hoping it won't rip doing so.  
Confused, she waited, wondering what was going to happen next, when a voice suddenly spoke into her ear, startling her. "Hullo there! Hogwarts, eh?" it said. "All the way from the Academy- you're mom went here too I see."  
How'd it know that? Sarah thought.  
"Well, I can read your mind of course! I see everything that you think. Yes, yes I remember your mom thought the same thing- you and your mother are startlingly alike."  
So I've been told. thought Sarah unintentionally, but the hat ignored her and went on.  
"I see a bit bravery here, yes. Ambition, hmmm. Well, what'll it be? Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, or Slytherin? Gotta make it quick! There's a lot of first years waiting to be sorted."  
Gryffindor would be nice. thought Sarah.  
"Gryffindor, huh? Why not Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff?" said the hat into her ear.  
Well, I did like the sound of Gryffindor. The friends I met on the train said they were in that house....  
"GRYFFINDOR!" said the hat, so that even Professor Dumbledore and the other teacher could hear. Nice talking to you! Or thinking to you! thought Sarah, awkwardly as she took off the hat.  
"Knew it all along," said the teacher proudly. "Welcome to Hogwarts, Sarah Maxwell. I am the head of your house, Professor McGonagall."  
"Well then, Minerva, I suppose you'll be wanting to get the sorting hat out to the great hall for the first years now. I've got to talk to Sarah about something important," said Professor Dumbledore. "I'll meet you out there when I'm done."  
McGonagall nodded, took the hat and a three legged stool, and left the room, shutting the door behind her. Dumbledore looked at Sarah through his half moon glasses as soon as the door had closed.   
"Is coming here not so bad anymore?" he asked her.  
"I guess not," said Sarah. "I'm going to miss my friends though. And the Academy."  
"And tee-peeing boy's dormitories?"  
"Oh, I can do that any old time, professor!" said Sarah with a grin. "It's tee-peeing boys dormitories with my friends that I'll miss."  
"You've made some new friends already on the train though. Gryffindor students weren't they?"  
Sarah sat on top of one of the desks casually and nodded. "I don't know there last names, but I know there was Hermione, Ron and Harry, -"  
"Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger and Harry Potter," said Dumbledore nodding. Sarah stared at him dumb-struck. For a moment she thought her hearing had just disappeared because she thought he had said "Harry Potter".  
"I'm sorry," she said, laughing shortly to herself, "I swear I thought you had said 'Harry Potter', because-"  
"You didn't hear wrong, his name is Harry Potter," said Dumbledore.  
And then Sarah found herself remembering that Malfoy had been calling him by his last name the entire time, and she hadn't even seen it, and hit herself for not realizing it before.  
Then Dumbledore's expression became more serious. "Sarah, your first year here might be kind of awkward for you."  
"Yeah, I've made friends with Harry Potter and didn't even realize it. The wheels are turning in my head, but I think the hamster is dead," said Sarah. Dumbledore shook his head with a chuckle. "What d'you mean then?"  
"If time were something I could possess I would explain right now. But I'm expected at the feast to welcome the new first years, and to introduce you to the school. I'm sure Harry and his friends will explain to you later, however. All I want to know is, has anything happened this summer that seemed a little unusual back at your home?"  
"Not that I know of," said Sarah, giving him a thoughtful look. Dumbledore sighed. "Well, me and my friends did find something," said Sarah, her stomach giving a nervous lurch. "There was this cave and we saw..." she paused, not sure of herself.  
"Yes?"  
She hesitated and then continued. "I think we found a death eater's hideout," said Sarah. "And there were these men. We heard them say that- someone, probably you-know-who-would be pleased." She looked at him, expecting to be inquired about why she had been in the cave in the first place, but he didn't.  
"I will ask you, as I have ask others before. Do please call someone by their proper name. It does get confusing," said Dumbledore. "Go on."  
She remembered finding her cousin's two headed coin with the hole in it, but didn't want to mention it. Her cousin was like her brother, and she didn't want to rat on him for anything, even if it was as important as this. "That's about it," said Sarah, faltering and then- "Why do you think they would serve- ah- Him-if he's dead. He can't come back- can He?"  
"As I said before, this will be an awkward year for you," said Dumbledore. "Harry will explain, I promise. And when I have the time, I will explain more if there is something you don't understand."  
"Explain what?" said Sarah, forgetting for a moment the conversation they just had. "You keep on saying that this will be a strange year. Can you at least give me a hint?"  
Dumbledore gave her a searching glance, and then nodded as if to himself. "I can tell you that there is a lot more about Harry Potter than what the rumors have always said, and you'll find that all out later."  
Sarah, though not satisfied, nodded. "Is that all then?"  
"That's all I wanted to know, thank you, Sarah," said Dumbledore, and smiled. "Alright then, I suppose you want to get to that feast." Sarah nodded, and with that, they left the classroom, and she followed him towards the Great Hall, Din prancing at her feet.  
There were four very long tables packed with students and another where all the teachers sat. First years were still being sorted, it looked like, as one took off the hat and set it on the three legged stool McGonagall had taken from the classroom. Sarah noticed that the whole hall was lit up with candles hung in midair, and the ceiling was enchanted with what looked like the sky outside. She never dreamed that she would be going to a school like this.  
She saw McGonagall pick up the hat and the stool and carry it away. Now Dumbledore started to make his way up to the staff table, and Sarah followed. There was a silence as everyone watched her, walking up behind Dumbledore, her hands fidgeting nervously in her pockets. Trying hard not to notice that her stomach was burning with uneasiness, as well as hunger, she looked down at Din still trotting beside her feet. All eye's seemed to be focused on her.  
Sarah stood next to Dumbledore, facing the whole school which stared back at her.  
"Welcome, to another year at Hogwarts," he said to the hall. "I have a couple of notices to announce before introducing our new student. First year students may note that they are not allowed to enter the forbidden forest, and are not allowed to be out of their dormitory's after dark. If any student ever does get caught breaking a rule, points will be taken away from your house. The house with the most points at the end of the year wins the House championship.  
"Second, Quidditch games will be back to normal this year, and all of the houses will be having some try outs to fill in opening spots for their teams," he paused as the tables started to applaud, and Sarah could see a few people cheering happily at this news. When the applause died down, he continued.  
"Third, the spot for the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher will be filled by none other than the real Professor Moody," he paused as a scattered applause broke out for the teacher behind her, who was eyeing the school with a large magical eye rolling unnaturally around in it's socket, while the other one remained normal, peering out into the crowd.  
"One more thing. Those of you who were here last year understood how hectic it was. We are entering dark times again, I'm afraid. I don't wish to frighten the first years new to everything that is happening, only to prepare them for a confusing and chaotic year. Remember that the bonds of friendship and trust are important in this fight against these times...."  
Sarah was more confused than before. What could've happened last year that would mean entering dark times? And dark times? Again? Those days were over. You-know-who couldn't be back. Could he? Dumbledore interupted her thoughts ask he stopped talking abrubtly and looked down at her.  
"Now finally, I'll introduce the new student whom everyone is curious to know about," he said, speaking loudly but clearly to the students. "Sarah Maxwell has come here all the way from the U.S., and will be finishing her fifth, sixth and seventh years here at Hogwarts. I expect you all to welcome her this year. Oh yes- and the house she was chosen to be in," added Dumbledore thoughtfully. "She is to be in Gryffindor."  
There was tidal wave of applause, especially from one table, which had to be Gryffindor because Harry, Ron and Hermione were sitting there, waving and cheering the most. One table however, hadn't even said a word, and was most likely to be Slytherin, seeing as Malfoy and his body guard-like friends sat there scowling at her. She walked quickly across the hall and came to sit next to Harry, students still congratulating her. Din hopped up on her lap, mewing hungrily.  
"With that I say, bon appetite!" said Dumbledore, and the empty plates were suddenly filled with food.  
"I felt like Jell-O up there," said Sarah a she poured some milk into her empty saucer and placed it on the floor for Din. The kitten leapt off her lap happily and went for the saucer. Sarah let out a deep breath of relief, and started on her own plate of food.  
"Well, thank god you're in Gryffindor," said Ron.  
"Did Dumbledore tell you about anything?" asked Harry. Sarah, almost choking, swallowed her food, and looked sideways at Harry with a half frown and half grin on her face.  
"You know, he didn't say a lot, but there was something that did catch my attention," she said. Harry stopped eating, his fork posed in midair before his mouth. "All that time on the train," she said shaking her head as she returned to her own plate, "and I had no idea, Harry Potter," she said his name with a half laugh.  
Harry stared at her, looking a little relieved. "But I thought you knew that," he said.  
"Well, apparently I didn't," she said. "But there's some more that I don't know about."  
"And?" Harry said, waiting for her to continue as she drank her glass of pumpkin juice. She set down the goblet, and looked at it with wide eyes.  
"Is that pumpkin juice?" she said, savoring the taste in her mouth. She looked at Harry, but saw he wasn't interested in the juice. "Oh," she said, "oh- Dumbledor said that you would explain... something. I dunno. Let's just get on with dinner, alright?"  
"She reads my mind," Ron said to Harry as he stuffed his mouth with mashed potatoes.  
They changed the subject, and Quidditch was brought up again. Her favorite thing to hear about Harry's matches were the way he caught the golden snitches, and how the comentator made the funniest remarks. The two beaters on his team, Fred and George, were Ron's older twin brothers. They joined in in the conversation, telling them about their own games. They were extremely excited to hear that Sarah was a Chaser on her old team, but then grew disappointed to hear that her worst position was Keeper.  
Stuffed and tired, Sarah ambled out of the Great Hall with Harry, Ron and Hermione and a huge crowd of Gryffindors. They walked up to a portrait of a large woman, who asked the student at the head of the crowd for the password. "Nutter Butter," he said and the portrait swung open to reveal a circular common room, with comfortable looking chairs and a fire cackling merrily in the fire place.  
Sarah followed Hermione up the stairs to the fifth year girls dormitory, found a bed near the window with her luggage sitting next to it, and collapsed onto it. Din hopped upon the bed, and Sarah lay next to her, not bothering to change her clothes.  
"How'd you like the feast?" asked Parvati Patil, who climbed into the bed next to her.  
"It was the best one I've ever had," Sarah said. "That pumpkin juice was something new. Too bad there wasn't any fried chicken..."  
"That's not what a Beauxbatons student would've said," said Hermione lightly.  
Sarah blinked at her. "Well, what do you expect, their delicacies are snails," she replied. "I expect 'zat 'zis pumpkin juice, or watever you call it, would not please even mice!" she imitated in a fake French accent. Hermione laughed quietly at this as she got into bed.  
"What was the food like where you were?" Lavender Brown asked as she too got into bed in night robes of pink.  
"The bread was good enough to pass as Bludgers. Jell-O could literally bounce off the walls, and we couldn't tell if they were serving cheese or milk," she yawned wearily.  
"Ew- really?" Parvati looked sideways at Sarah with a revolted look.  
"No," Sarah laughed, "that was Muggle school food. Ours was ok, I just think this food was better."  
"Were there cute guys at your school?" Lavender asked with mischievous smile.  
"You could say that," Sarah grinned up at the canvas on her four poster. She could see one guy's face clearly at the mention of cute guys at the Academy. He was someone she had a crash on since her first year, who spiked his short brown hair up in hair gel, and wonderful brown eye's, that she almost melted when she imagined them.  
"Hope you have a good first day tomorrow, Sarah," said Hermione, as she turned out the light's.  
"G'night," muttered Sarah, as she started to make up a dream about bringing Mike and Kelly Anne, and her crush to Hogwarts for winter vacation, and slowly fell off into sleep.  



	5. Chapter Five; First Day of School

Chapter Five  
First Day of School Light spilled through the windows the next morning, and Sarah ignored it turning on her side. Hermione, however, was already up and about, stuffing books into her bag and throwing on her school robes. Lavender and Parvati were up too, though not quite as awake as Hermione was.   
"Get up, Sarah," Hermione shook Sarah awake, "you don't want to be late to class on your first day, do you?"  
"Relax, Hermione," Sarah mumbled as she sat up. Getting up groggily she rubbed the sleep away from her eyes. Din slept on, curled up in the same spot she was in the night before. Sarah walked over to the end of her four poster bed, opened her trunk and pulled out a fresh set of blue casual robes.  
"How come you didn't get school robes?" asked Hermione.  
"Didn't have the time to go to Diagon Alley and get some," answered Sarah simply as she threw on her robes. She took the brush to her hair, and started stroking quickly, her dirty blondish-brownish hair straightening down to her shoulders.  
"How'd you get your books then?" asked Hermione, extracting her wand from her trunk.  
"I didn't. I'm getting them today in class," said Sarah. "Don't worry so much. I know what I'm doing, and I should be getting my school robes in by Sunday."   
"I'm not worried," said Hermione defensively, and then watched as Sarah started to throw her own stuff in her bag. "Are you ready yet?"  
"Almost," she said, pulling out her wand, gripping it fondly, and then pocketing it. "Now I'm ready," she proclaimed. Din looked up, and was about to spring when Sarah turned around. "Not this time, Din."  
The white kitten stared up at her looking offended, and then sat down on the bed again, watching as Sarah and Hermione left the dormitory.  
Harry and Ron were waiting for them when they entered the Great Hall. As Sarah walked across, she noticed that Malfoy and a group of Slytherins were all sniggering and looking over at Harry and then at Sarah. Too focused on breakfast to think about what they laughing at, she took a seat next to Ron.  
"What took you so long?" Ron asked Hermione.  
"Professor McGonagall's already been around to pass out the schedules. Here," said Harry, giving them their schedules. Sarah put hers aside, not even glancing at it, and tipped some bacon and eggs onto her plate. Ron seized her schedule and glanced at it.  
"She's got a free study period while we have Care of Magical creatures, and Study of Ancient Runes when we've got Divination," Ron grunted indignantly.  
"Really? Sweet! A whole period to myself," Sarah took back her schedule. "I asked for Arithmacy, though. Not that much of a loss anyways."   
"Arithmacy is a great class!" Hermione was aghast. Ron rolled his eyes.  
"Why's that? You get more sleep?" Sarah grinned as Hermione glared at her. "Just joking."  
"If I get another death omen from Professor Trelawny, I swear I'll scream," Harry told Ron.  
"Ah, Harry, your inner eye is closed, for you are not seeing what I'm seeing. Professor Trelawny won't announce another death omen until the Quidditch game," Ron held up his hands to his head as if he were in meditation.   
Without warning, a rush of owls flew through the windows above and delivered their mail to the students. She spotted two of them, Mike's barn owl, Aries, and Kelly Anne's tiny screech owl, Iris, as they passed over her head, and stopped to rest in front of Sarah's plate, looking very worn out. Taking the letters from their claws, Sarah opened them and read to herself, Kelly Anne's first. Dear Sarah,  
What's up? How was your trip there? Nothing's going on over here, though  
someone did set some firecrackers AND dungbumbs off in Mrs.Waltzerhackit's   
classroom yesterday. You should have seen it! Mrs.Waltzerhackit was really p.o.ed!  
Anyway, I hope you'll write back and tell us about the new friends you've  
met so far, and what's classes are like. I heard you have to wear uniforms there,  
so tell me what those are like. Oh, and one more thing, ask if it's ok if Mike and I  
can visit for Christmas break! We wanna see Hogwarts too!  
Your best bud, and tee-peeing partner-  
Kelly Anne Sarah smiled at the letter, laughing quietly and rereading it over again. Then remembered to read the other one Mike had written, she flicked his opened and read to herself: Dear Sarah,  
Hey, how's it going? Kelly Anne told me she already wrote to you, but  
I'm writing anyway. Our first day of school started yesterday, and already we  
have homework! Especially from Mrs.Waltzerhackit, and Dr.Damour. I don't  
know if Kelly Anne wrote this to you or not, but Sam set off some firecrackers  
and dungbombs in the Charms classroom yesterday. Mrs.Waltzerhackit was so  
mad, she led Sam off to the principals office by the ear. We couldn't stop   
laughing about it till noon. That's about it. Write back soon!  
Mike  
P.S. So is there any Quidditch teams there? Stuffing both letters into her pocket, and finishing her last piece of bacon, she got up and swung her bag onto her shoulder. Aries had already left when she looked down at Iris, nibbling at the scraps remaining on her plate. She gave the tiny owl a thoughtful look and leaned toward it.  
"Why don't you go visit Din in the Gryffindor tower, Iris? I'll need to use you if I wanna my letters sent to Kelly Anne and Mike."  
Iris hooted happily, and flew off, quickly out the window above. Excited probably, Sarah thought, for the thought of seeing the little kitten.  
"Who'd you get a letter from?" asked Harry.  
"Some friends," she shrugged. "A student back at the Academy set off a bunch of fireworks and dungbombs in this one teacher's classroom yesterday and they wanted to tell me about it."  
"That's awful!" Hermione said, appalled that they could do such a thing to a teacher. Sarah shook her head.   
"I don't know how else to put it but this teacher was a nightmare with a big uh- butt," explained Sarah, and cocked her head thoughtfully, "she was a- very wrathful, watchful, mean, opinionitive, out of her mind, angry teacher," she tried to explain, picking all the words she had used to describe this teacher before.  
"Sounds a lot like a professor we know," muttered Ron. "Come on, we've got Charms first."  
They left the Great Hall, and headed down the corridors to the Charms classroom. Sarah followed close to Harry, Ron and Hermione through concern of getting lost on her way there. They reached the classroom, and took their seats, Sarah sitting next to Hermione. A tiny little professor walked in, and looked around the classroom.  
"Sarah Maxwell? Oh good, there you are," he said, checking off something off a piece of paper that looked like the roll call. Sarah looked down at her schedule; this had to be Professor Flitwick. He passed her the textbook which she would need for the rest of the year, and started the lesson.  
They were to practice Counterpart Charms on a partner, so Harry and Ron paired off, and Sarah partnered with Hermione, which was good for her because Hermione was the smartest person Sarah had ever met. She had a lot of help, and was able to do her Counterpart Charm really well by the end of class, making almost exact illusions of Hermione, though still not as good as Hermione could do herself. When they had History of Magic afterwards, Sarah's chance came of being able to go to sleep during class. Even though the ghost, Professor Bins, taught the class it was easily the dullest, boring class Sarah could endure. She fell asleep after the first five minutes when he droned on about a war that she didn't heed the name of. After a while she woke up with a start, and saw that nothing had changed, except for the fact that everyone else was asleep now too. She tapped Harry's arm lightly, hoping he was still awake and ripped out a scratch piece of paper and scribbled a note to him:  
I dreamt I flew to the moon and played a Quidditch game there with aliens…  
Weird, I think I dreamt the same thing. He scribbled and passed the note back at the same time Ron woke up. He saw the note, and added something to it.  
I bet you'll learn a lot more from Hermione talking in her sleep, than you will in this class... he wrote, and pushed the paper towards Sarah. She lifted her head and looked at it, suppressing a laugh, and picked up her own quill.  
It seems like it. The only things we're studying are the insides of our eyelids. She wrote.  
With more scraps of paper, she drew characters of Harry, Ron and Hermione, while Harry and Ron themselves were playing games of hangman. When she was done, she had drawn Harry with huge round dinner plate sized glasses, Ron with exaggerated freckles and a mischievous grin, and Hermione with overly bushy hair, and a hand full of books that were too big for her to carry. Harry had to admit to her, as he laughed at his own, Ron's and Hermione's characters, that she was pretty good artist.  
"So, Hermione, what do you think?" asked Sarah, when she had showed it to her after class.  
"You should have been paying attention instead of drawing ridiculous characters like that," muttered Hermione, as Harry and Ron snorted at the way Hermione was looking at her own character. "And I don't carry that many books."  
Then Hermione smiled and asked if she could have the drawing anyways. Sarah gave her an amused laugh as she handed the drawing over, and stuffed away the other doodles into her bag. "So what do we have next?"  
"Double Potions," Harry's said gloomily.  
"Do you think Professor Snape will still be there?" asked Ron.  
"I hope not, I wonder-" but Hermione cleared her throat before Harry could finish that thought.  
"It's not that bad, is it?" Sarah ignored the interruption.  
"You haven't met Snape," said Harry.  
"You know the teacher you were talking about his morning? Well, she's nothing compared to this teacher," Ron enlightened her. Sarah let out laugh and shook her head. She doubted anyone could be as bad as Mrs. Waltzerhackit, or worse. But her doubts disappeared when they had taken their seats at the back of the dungeon.  
Professor Snape's face was drawn as if he had just come back from Azkaban, Sarah thought. His black eyes followed Harry till he sat down in a seat next to Ron. It was amazing how pale and exhausted he looked, though he was able to give Harry such a loathsome expression. Only until Sarah sat down next to Harry, was it that Snape took his eyes off him.  
"New student, Maxwell," he muttered looking down at what Sarah recognized as the role call that Professor Flitwick had earlier. "Where's your school robes, Maxwell?" he said, eyeing her casual blue robes with distaste.  
"I don't have them yet," said Sarah. Malfoy snickered loudly in front of her, and she was tempted to kick his seat.  
"And why not?" Snape continued.  
"I get my school robes in by Sunday," she answered, her dislike for the teacher growing more and more. Now she could see why the others didn't like him that much. Professor Snape turned on his heel and walked back towards the front of the dungeon.  
"Well, then, Maxwell, why don't we see how caught up with this class you are. Show us the last potion you learned about last year," he said over his shoulder.  
"Oh no," Sarah's heart sank. She had made a Dilution Potion, at the end of the year, a potion supposed to make the drinker stronger and agile than they normally were. Only it was so complex, and it took her the whole period to make, with an additional thousand of times of asking Mike and Kelly Anne if they were sure that they were giving her the right measurements.   
"Can I make something else?" she asked hopefully. Snape glared at her, and she took that as a no. Shaking her head, she took out the ingredients she would need, and started. It took her ten minutes to get all the right measurements, and then to combine everything, one step at a time. Everyone in the class was watching her, so she never looked up, though her hands were shaking slightly. The way people's eyes stared at her undisturbed and silent, was the one thing that made her most anxious.  
Finally when she was done, a watery- whitish colored potion was swirling around in her cauldron. Hermione was peering into the cauldron slightly, and nodded, indicating that Sarah had done everything right, and she let out a half breath of relief. Then Professor Snape gazed into it and ladled some out to look at more closely, then poured it back in. "It's still watery, you should have boiled it longer," said Snape, and walked back to the front of the class. "Five points from Gryffindor."  
Sarah sat back down, and looked at her potion. It wasn't that watery, she thought. She wouldn't have minded the criticism though. It was the five points taken away for it.  
"You're just a bit ahead of the class, so I expect you to know everything that were going to do today," Snape added. She sighed and sank down in her seat, doubting whether she could even remember anything besides the Dilution potion.  
"What do you think of Professor Snape now?" whispered Harry. Sarah scratched her head.  
"I think that Snape and Waltzerhackit should go drinking together," whispered back Sarah, still staring at her potion, but smiling as Harry shook with silent laughter.  
They were to make Idiosyncratic Potions, that made people's personalities and characteristics really come out. Snape kept criticizing the Gryffindor's potions, especially Harry's, while nodding favorably at the Slytherins. Sarah expressed her opinion about this injustice at one point, bothered by Malfoy's constant mockings, and then Snape took two more points from Gryffindor.  
"Well, she's got a point," Harry muttered, and then caught himself.  
"Add another five points to that too, Potter," Snape's leered.   
As soon as Snape's back was turned again, Malfoy turned around with a smirk on his face.   
"Why, Maxwell, how wonderful it is to meet you again-"  
"You shouldn't drink that potion Malfoy, being that much ugly and senseless isn't good for your health," Sarah grunted not daring to look up. Harry and Ron chortled into their cauldrons. Malfoy stared at her, face reddening.  
"Keep on laughing, Weasley, it's all you can afford to do," Malfoy sneered. Ron jumped out of his seat. Harry and Hermione both reached up and pulled him back down, and Malfoy left them alone after that, satisfied.  
Finally, lunch came around, and Sarah sprinted upstairs to Gryffindor Tower after she had eaten, and then straight up to her dormitory, where she found Din trying to paw up at a happy flying Iris. Sarah smiled and let Iris land on her arm. She took out a piece of paper, and wrote a letter to both Kelly Anne and Mike, thinking it pointless to send them separate letters. Dear Kelly Anne, and Mike,  
Tell Sam I always thought he was a brave, brave man, but what he did  
to Mrs. Waltzerhackit was the stupidest, yet the most hilarious thing I have  
ever heard of, and I admire his courage. The trip to Hogwarts was great by  
the way! I made a few new friends, one of whom is a Seeker for our house  
team. And yes, Mike, there is Quidditch teams, four of them. Though my house  
team only has an opening for the Keeper position, and I think you already know  
what I have to say to that. I don't know if you guys can come over during the  
winter break, but I can ask, and if that doesn't work, I'll beg.  
I've gotta go; lunch will end pretty soon, but I'll write to you guys again. I  
think we should only send letters once a week because your owls were worn out  
when they got here. Hope to hear from you guys then! Miss you already!  
Sarah Sarah reread it, and then stuck it in an envelope and addressed it to Kelly Anne and Mike, and gave it to Iris, hoping up and down on her arm. Iris nipped her on the finger affectionately, and flew away with the letter. Staring absentmindedly after the tiny screech owl, she suddenly realized that the bell was going to ring any moment, and grabbed her bag, dashing out of the room.  
She met Harry and Ron halfway down the hallway.  
"Where's the fire, Sarah?" Ron asked.  
"What? The bell's going to ring, isn't it?" Sarah pointed at her watch. The two friends took a look at it, eyebrows rising.  
"Your watch is fifteen minutes fast," Harry looked up at her.  
"Eh?" Sarah compared her watch to theirs, and pursed her lips, embarrassed. She set her watch straight and then looked around, expecting to find Hermione. "Where'd Hermione go?"  
"Library. It's her time to study," answered Ron.  
"Study? There's nothing to study for yet though!" A worry line creased Sarah's forehead. "Is there?"  
Ron laughed and shook his head. "It's just the way Hermione is. Don't worry about it. In another few weeks she'll be making study schedules, so think nothing of it."  
Sarah let out a second sigh of relief. "That's good. So, what're you two up to?"  
"We're just going up to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom to see Mad Eye Moody," Harry shrugged. "Want to come?"  
"Mad Eye Moody, the professor with that weird thingy going on with his eye?" the edges of Sarah's lips twitched downward, and she shook her head "I think I'll just wait until Friday to meet him. The guy creeps me out."  
"Suit yourself. We'll see you at Transfiguration," Ron and Harry left her as they walked down the hallway.  
For the rest of the fifteen minutes left to her, Sarah wandered the halls and examined all the paintings and tapestries hanging along the walls. Once she thought one of the suits of armor had moved, and after that she was more wary of them. She found herself wishing again that Kelly Anne and Mike could be at Hogwarts with her, but that kind of thinking made her sad and she quickly discarded the thought.  
The bell rang signaling the end of lunch. She realized she had no idea where she was.  
Luck favored her that time; right after the second bell had rung, out of breath, and robes in disarray, she had found the Transfiguration classroom.   
Professor McGonagall, the teacher she had met when she put on the sorting hat, taught Transfiguration. Sarah took a seat next to Harry, Ron and Hermione, feeling kind of like a third wheel because she didn't know anyone else to go sit with. She stared up at the front of the class, watching Professor McGonagall start the lesson when everyone had taken their seats.  
They were to turn a toad into a rabbit, and Sarah couldn't have had more fun; Transfiguration was her favorite subject. Though, her rabbit still was catching flies with it's tongue, Hermione helped her around that easily before McGonagall came to examine. Neville Longbottom, who Harry had told her about during Potions, was known to be extremely forgetful, and clumsy, and was shaking in the seat before them.  
"What's up, Neville?" asked Harry.  
"I've lost my toad," Neville looked like he was going to go to pieces.  
"What, already?" said Ron in disbelief.  
"Here, you can have mine, I'm done," Sarah turned her rabbit back into a frog with a "POOF", and handed it to Neville, who looked extremely grateful. "Thanks," said Neville. A few minutes later, he had turned his frog into a green rabbit, and Hermione went over to help him.  
"I'm surprised his pet frog is still alive," Ron muttered into Harry's ear. The free period she had that day was spent as she watched Harry, Ron and Hermione attend their Care of Magical Creatures class. The teacher, who was also the gamekeeper, was a lot bigger, than she had imagined when Harry, Ron and Hermione had told her about Hagrid on the train. She was expecting to see someone just a bit bigger than her dad. Those thoughts were erased when she saw a huge man with a tangled beard, towering above the students.   
She hugged her knees and watched mystified at the creatures Hagrid had introduced to the class called Sygers. They looked like the wild cats she would sometimes see in the mountains at home. Except for the fact that they were much smaller, had blue and gray fur, and their eye's glowed red every time they looked the slightest bit annoyed.  
Everyone, including even Hermione, was looking apprehensively at the cat-like creatures with hesitation when Hagrid told the class their lessons for the next few weeks would be about them. They would have to take care of them like pets.   
It turned out that not only were they very small, bust also, extremely fast. So fast, that when Hagrid had handed Harry the leash to one of them, it took off running almost instantly, diving into the lake, and dragging Harry with it. Sarah and Ron then came helping him out of the lake, wet and soaking completely and still holding the leash, which the Syger had broken away from.  
"Er- tha'll happen sometimes, so yeh migh' want ter hold on tigh' ter their leashes," said Hagrid, as Harry, Ron and Sarah walked towards the class. Sarah was struggling hard not to laugh, as Harry frowned at her. "They're mighty fast, and like ter go fishin'. Here," he said, and walked passed them towards the lake. He stuck his hand in, and a moment later returned with Harry's Syger, a fish clasped in its mouth.  
Sarah had to turn and laugh then, Ron joining her, not able to contain themselves any longer.  
For the rest of the period, Sarah found herself helping Harry try and walk his Syger, which was extremely hard, not only for him, but for the rest of the class too. The Sygers didn't seem to want to be "walked" but rather "runned", and made desperate attempts, just like Harry's had, to make off towards the lake. It was the simple charm that slowed the Sygers down Hermione had shown to everyone, that was a total relief and soon the whole class was using it.  
When Sarah caught sight of Malfoy, Crabb and Goyle, she was wondering the same thing as Ron was and he leaned towards her.  
"Maybe we should just let the Sygers do their stuff, and set them on Malfoy," he whispered to her, making her nod and smile, but Hermione had overheard him and shook her head in disapproval. Finally, classes ended for the day, and Sarah was able to take Din outside to enjoy the fresh air. She watched as the tiny white kitten clawed at the fish in the lake for a moment, and then started to draw sketches of the school and it's grounds for Kelly Anne and Mike. When the sun started to sink in the horizon, turning the clouds pink and orange she set down her sketchbook and stared at her knees, wondering what her two friends were doing right now, then noticed that Hermione was walking towards her.  
"Is it dinner time already?" Sarah asked.  
"Pretty soon," Hermione shrugged. "How was your first day?"  
"Ok," said Sarah, depression hitting her stomach again as she wished again that Kelly Anne and Mike could've been here to experience Hogwarts. Sarah glanced at the lake, and then gave a short laugh, "I think that lesson with the Sygers just topped it off. I was literally dying trying not to laugh. Harry- you should have seen his face when he came out of the water."  
Hermione allowed herself a small laugh too. "It was kind of funny, wasn't it?" she said, smiling. "He came up all wet and still holding the leash."  
"The way McGonagall looked at him when we walked in through the hallways with him still soaking," grinned Sarah. "What was it that he said to her? 'I just had a bit of a bath in the lake'?" They both broke into laughter.  
They were silent for a time then. It seemed as if Hermione wanted to tell her something else, as if she hadn't really come out here to tell Sarah that it as dinnertime. Sarah watched as she stood silently looking out across the lake, her face somewhat troubled. "We'd better go inside and get ready," she said, breaking the silence.  
Din had finished her own dinner, and was licking her paws when Sarah went to get her. A fish lay half eaten next to the tiny white kitten. "Uck. Din, it's cat chow from now on," Sarah let out an annoyed sigh, as Din purred happily.  
Harry and Ron saved seats for Hermione and Sarah when they walked in. They kept staring over at the Slytherin table where Malfoy and the same group of Slytherins were all snickering stupidly and glancing over at Harry and Ron. Sarah couldn't help but make a revolted look at Malfoy who had suddenly spotted her.  
"Too bad McGonagall didn't teach us how to turn something that looks like a frog into a rabbit," said Sarah to Harry, making him look up for the first time.  
"Or a ferret," said Ron, sniggering, and making Harry laugh as well. They explained to Sarah, who gave them puzzled glance. Apparently there had been a teacher last year that had turned Malfoy into a bouncing ferret when he almost put a curse on Harry.   
"I'd love to see that," said Sarah. "Malfoy a bouncing ferret. Must've been real entertaining."  
"It was," said Ron, closing his eyes and smiling as though he were reliving the moment again.  
"I wonder what the real Professor Moody will be like for Defense Against the Darks Arts anyways," said Hermione thoughtfully.  
"The real Professor Moody?" said Sarah. Harry, Ron and Hermione all exchanged glances, and then Hermione shrugged and told her.  
"Last year the Professor Moody we had was a fraud," she explained. "We've never have been able to have a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher for more than a year."  
"Never?" asked Sarah skeptically.  
"We've gotten a different teacher every year," said Ron, "they think the job is jinxed. Snape wants the job, though he's stuck as the Potions teacher."   
Sarah turned her head and glanced curiously up at the staff table where Snape was sitting, looking even more ashen faced than he had been this morning.  
"Why does he look so pale?" asked Sarah. Harry, Ron and Hermione looked at each other, but didn't say anything. "What?"  
They looked down at there plates, not able to say anything to Sarah. She decided to drop the subject, and asked for the plate of potatoes. After dinner, she left the Great Hall with Harry Ron and Hermione, tired and full. Fred and George were already in the common room when they climbed through the portrait hole. They were making Quidditch strategies, which Sarah couldn't help but add her bit of knowledge of her own.  
"Was the Keeper the team captain too?" asked Sarah, coming over to where Fred and Geoge were prodding little figures around a model of a Quidditch field. Fred and George grimaced.  
"Yeah," said Fred. "And we've got to start practice pretty soon if we want to win our first match."  
Sarah shrugged and decided to stay up and help Fred and George, relating to them a few of her own strategies she had used. Harry stayed too, listening to something that a Seeker had done on her old team.   
"He fell off his broom, caught the Snitch, and used the Summoning Charm on his broom before he hit the ground. He didn't break a single bone, though his arm was pretty sore for a while."  
"Why don't you try out for our Quidditch team, Sarah?" said Fred, as though the idea had just popped in his head. "Because I suck at being a Keeper," said Sarah flatly, and then gave them a half smile. "I'm sure you'll find a better person for the job." She said good night to them, and headed for the stairs up to the girls dormitories. Halfway up, she heard George's voice.  
"I wonder if she's that bad of a Keeper, as she say's she is."  



End file.
